seattlejaycees Chapter 128 : Chapter 128
Chapter 128 : Chapter 128
Chapter 128 : Mentality
Sal bolted upright in bed, gasping for air.
His whole body soaked in sweat, he clutched at his throat in confusion.
It hadn't felt like a dream, but vividly real.
A Vampire's tentacles had wrapped around his neck, choking him, and razor-sharp teeth were tearing his flesh apart.
Sal had laid down several times trying to sleep, but the same nightmare revived in his head each time.
This nightmare was far more terrible than the ones before.
In the first nightmare, he at least had a gun, but this time he was walking alone in his gray school uniform.
All he could do was use his Appraisal ability, and the surrounding darkness was filled with sharp screams and ominous footsteps.
Then suddenly, his feet wouldn't move, as if rooted to the ground.
The monsters floated toward him at a speed much faster than reality.
"Haa... Haa..."
Sitting on the bed, Sal looked down at his trembling hands and tried to steady his breathing.
He was exhausted, but he didn't want to risk going through that horror again.
Dragging his unsteady legs, Sal leaned against the wall and headed to the bathroom.
When he turned on the light, his haggard face stared back from the mirror.
It was a wretched sight.
Dark circles under his eyes plainly revealed his fatigue, and his rough stubble looked like splotchy shadows growing wildly.
Groaning, Sal gripped the sink and looked at the showerhead.
He had changed the sheets and even showered after waking from the first nightmare, but it was hard to fall asleep peacefully.
Sal had never suffered from nightmares before, so he sank into endless frustration at having absolutely no way to avoid them.
Cooper had said during the day that his Mentality had dropped and he should focus on accumulating happiness.
'Being with friends?'
Sal thought of the tablet on his bedside table.
He didn't feel like replying to the numerous messages piled up while he was immersed in crafting.
He knew he had to address the issue eventually, but he also knew it wouldn't make him happy right now.
It would only feed his anxiety about not hanging out with his friends for the past few weeks.
With most of his time taken up by Chatfield and Upgrade, his friends had been pushed to the back burner.
Divinity might nag him about not being diligent, but she would understand if he explained the dungeon situation and the crafting work.
'Barry wouldn't care much, but Hannah... well, that's a whole different problem.'
Sal thought for a moment.
He wasn't sure what had happened over the past few weeks, but Hannah seemed to be avoiding him more and more.
The frequency of their messages hadn't changed much, and she knew he was busy, but her tone was gradually changing.
Instead of asking how he was, she asked who he was with much more often.
Sal shook his head, trying to shake off those thoughts.
"It's the middle of the night, and I can't solve it right now anyway."
He decided to message everyone tomorrow morning to apologize for being out of touch lately.
After splashing water on his face, Sal looked at himself in the mirror again, turned off the light, and went into the dormitory bedroom.
He decided to find that happiness in crafting work.
Without expecting to get a good rest and unwilling to risk having another nightmare, he moved to the small workspace with the board and tools.
Sal turned on the light and looked around the cluttered room.
Bins full of countless blueprints leaned against his workbench.
Half-finished blueprints were scattered around the workspace, and the tools received from the workshop staff were neatly placed on the top right corner of the surface.
Over a dozen request forms were pinned here and there on the board behind him.
Sal glanced at the uniform draped over the chair in the main bedroom.
Since he wasn't going to make anything by hand tonight, there was no need for it.
On the other hand, the visor would help him draw blueprints and prepare him for crafting when he returned to the workshop.
Eventually, his gaze moved to the monocle on the side workbench.
He remembered how it completely blocked his emotions and allowed him to see things clearly.
Sal wondered if he could fall asleep while wearing the monocle.
'Will the calming ability let me rest, or will it just numb the signals my body sends?'
The memory of collapsing after taking off the monocle was still vivid, but he decided to risk it.
Sal picked up the monocle and put it on, leaving the visor on the table next to the pistol.
The hope of falling asleep vanished, and his mind became startlingly clear.
Sal looked at the blueprints and realized how haphazardly scattered they were.
***
Two hours later, Sal's entire dorm room was neatly organized.
The request forms were sorted by difficulty and corresponding pay, and a new workflow chart showing the time required for each project was drawn on the planner on the wall.
While taking a break from the workbench, he organized the room, even tidying up the bed sheets and his uniform.
After clearing everything away, he even completely removed the stains remaining on the mattress.
The bed looked very comfortable, but Sal remembered there were a few more short requests to handle before that.
He intended to work only on blueprints, and some of them had already been started.
The first request was a utility belt with a Subspace function.
Sal read the request summary carefully. He was very grateful for the attached additional explanation.
-Healer Class. Need equipment to store gathered items. Must be able to store organic matter. Bag type (crossbody) is also acceptable. Must be simple so as not to hinder movement.
Sal sketched a rough idea, pulling a few sheets from his stockpiled paper stack.
He drew a strap to hang over the shoulder, but it didn't feel quite right.
"Accessibility needs to be good."
Then he suddenly stopped.
Sal looked at the request form again and carefully reviewed the requirements.
He had unconsciously assumed it would be a utility belt, but there was no such content in the request.
'Did the Reasoning ability analyze the information and come up with the answer?'
Sal pondered for a moment, then dismissed it.
He didn't want to distract himself unnecessarily.
When Sal used the Analysis ability on the materials Chatfield brought, his Mythos Crafter ability listed crafting attributes.
Countless new combinations capable of producing desired effects emerged, and the Reasoning ability prevented him from obsessing over wrong paths.
As a prime example, he had tried to look at Void Crystal for the spatial ability, but the monocle guided him toward Void Heart, which had the Illusion ability as a primary attribute.
The fact that it was used in a utility belt meant it would become much more versatile if the Retrieval ability was added.
Sal knew that Vila's sword, which he had appraised when first entering the Academy, also had those two abilities.
The monocle reminded him of that fact for an instant, then immediately drove him to the actual design work.
As the Mythos Crafter ability flared up, materials and a rough blueprint unfolded before his eyes.
The ability began to suggest modifications, and Sal smiled at the fact that he could work without being constrained by rank or possessed materials.
All Sal had to do was make an estimate and send it to the client.
Low-risk design work was unexpectedly fun, and Sal became fully immersed in the flow of organizing requirements.
Instead of falling into the trap of endless revisions, he worked with ruthless efficiency.
Every time he completed a design, Sal flipped it over and placed it to the left of the desk.
Finally, as the sun rose, Sal flipped through the overturned blueprints and counted seven sheets.
A smile spread across his face at the thought that even if the client didn't buy them, he could sell the blueprints to a shop.
The moment he took off the monocle, the happy feeling vanished instantly.
"Gasp..."
Suddenly, a feeling of being swarmed from all sides enveloped him, and the suppressed anxiety rushed in as if to suffocate him.
Beyond anxiety, Sal was swept by an overwhelming emptiness he couldn't possibly handle.
He put a hand up to rub his eyes and felt moisture on his cheek.
"Was I crying?"
Sal almost threw the monocle onto the table and stared at it intently.
It was undoubtedly an amazing device, but it had too many drawbacks for direct use.
He desperately tried to understand what had just happened.
This was the second time an unknown sensation visited him after taking off the monocle.
'The first time I collapsed, and the second time I took it off, I cried and felt helplessness.'
Sal sat at the desk for a moment, staring at the monocle.
'I have to sell it or get rid of it.'
The calming effect was perfect for immersing in crafting, but in exchange, it forcibly suppressed other emotions.
It would suit someone more emotionally stable.
Realizing that fact, Sal hated himself even more.
Nightmares, anxiety, guilt—those three things were keeping him constantly on edge, but he couldn't understand why.
Sal stood up wearily and almost tripped over the chair.
His legs had gone numb at some point.
He felt guilty for not paying attention to his body's condition.
While standing awkwardly waiting for blood to circulate back into his numb and aching legs, he looked at the board.
All plans were neatly organized, with step-by-step goals attached to each.
Sal felt as if he had woken up from a fever, with much of the information remaining only as a blur.
The problem was that he had absolutely no memory of creating it.
That gave Sal another bout of anxiety.
One of the graphs at the bottom was organized like a list.
Sal frowned as he read it for the first time.
- Apologize to Divinity and Hannah
- Prepare for the Mounted Battle with Barry
- Create an Evolving Blueprint for Chatfield
- Reduce time spent in the workshop
- Volunteer for resource gathering missions
- Apply for Guild activities
Sal looked at the list with a mix of shock and confusion.
It was definitely his handwriting, but the content hadn't been on the board just hours ago.
'Did my subconscious force the monocle to operate?'
The title above the list had just two words written on it.
- Increase Mentality
Sal stared at the items on the list and read them aloud.
It seemed the monocle had processed the answer he had been trying to find.
Sal didn't know if this list would work, but he felt that completing the first three would alleviate a lot of guilt.
However, the last three items were hard to understand.
Because he was convinced that crafting work made him happy.
Resource gathering missions or Guild activities didn't look fun at all, but there must be a reason they were written down.
Part of Sal's guilt stemmed from how he used materials and Chatfield's remark pointing out that he had obtained everything too easily so far.
He wanted to prove himself with materials obtained through his own hard work.
Finally, what remained was Guild activity.
Sal stared at that item for a while.
He already knew the answer in his heart, but he didn't want to admit it.
At some point while clearing that dungeon, Sal had felt a rush of relief as he faced his fear head-on.
Yes, he was terrified... but he did it.
That anxiety gripping him would also gradually weaken if he continued to face fear and build up his Resilience stat. As Cooper said, resilience was essential in their line of work, and Sal wanted it especially.